


Twinkling

by cateliot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, five shot, love and war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 09:19:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4216179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cateliot/pseuds/cateliot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Five Short Affairs of Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall. His twinkling blue eyes, her raised eyebrow. His chuckle, her witty comeback. His mystery, her loyalty. A collection of their five affairs, spanning over their lifetimes, in different times and places. Five completely unrelated one shots. Albus/Minerva.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No.1

**Author's Note:**

> This work of fiction is based on characters and settings created by J. K. Rowling. All recognizable characters, settings, and plot elements are copyright © Ms. Rowling and her assignees. The author believes this work falls within the scope of the Fair Use Doctrine as a transformative work. For more information, see the Organization for Transformative Works. All original characters, settings, and plot elements are copyright © Cate Eliot. This work of fiction is available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.  
> Let me know what you think of these. There will be five unrelated one shots spanning over their lifetimes. All feedback is appreciated.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first affair: youth

“You’re completely mad.”

Seventeen year old Minerva McGonagall propped herself up on her elbows, watching her lover shuffle for something on the bookshelf. His short beard and hair were blazing red like a flowerchild’s. He wore a maroon dressing gown though she would only see the back from her position on the bed.

Her long curls licked the small of her back and tickled the smoothness of her ashen cheeks. She wore barely anything other than a long shirt, much too big for her petite form, extending to the middle of her thighs.

“Yes,” the older man said turning, revealing twinkling blue eyes. “I suppose I am.”

The girl laughed. “You’re going to get us caught, Professor.”

“Is that so Miss McGonagall?”

She made a face and gracefully flexed into a sitting position. She cleared her throat dramatically. “I’ve been meaning to ask about the clearance of the experiment. Have you heard anything back from the board of directors or are they still being completely closed mouth about the whole subject.”

Albus shrugged.

“You know the Board of Education,” he said evasively. He caught the look on his love’s face in the mirror. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said lightly, taking her eyes off his face quickly. She folded her hands in her lap.

“What did you do? Minerva?”

“Theoretically,” she said slowly, tasting the word in her mouth, “how much trouble would I be in if I already completed the first two stages of development.”

“Minerva!”

“Do not shriek at me, Albus Dumbledore, someone will hear,” she snapped stiffly. Albus clearly composed himself before speaking again.

“What on earth were you thinking? Do you have any idea what the Board of Education will do if they find out?”

“Are you going to tell them?” she asked evenly.

“Of course not!”

“Then they’re won’t find out,” she said smoothly. There was a pause before he frowned. “It’s because I’m Muggleborn, isn’t it.”

Dumbledore froze on the bookshelf before turning around swiftly to look at her. “What gave you that impression?” The girl studied him for several moments, her eyes coursing over every angle of his face before frowning slightly.

“You know something you’re not telling me.”

A trickle a panic settled in Albus’ stomach. “They’re nervous because of the innovation of the project, your age, and your status as a Muggleborn that it might draw attention.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her eyes were slightly darker than normal.

“There wasn’t much I could do, Minerva … there are strict rules governing the grants.”

There was clear disappointment and anger in air. She sat back on her heels.

“I love you,” Albus said, feeling the weight heavy on his heart. He never did like to see her hurt. His lips were soft on hers. She didn’t return the kiss with her normal vigor, but she didn’t pull away.

Three weeks later, she had graduated and he never saw her again.


	2. No.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second affair: jealousy?

The snow was falling heavily as Professor Albus Dumbledore tried to make it to bar where he had agreed to meet up with the other teachers for a quick drink before the holidays had finished and the students returned.  
Just as he was about to make it inside, when he collide with another person, knocking her (or at least what he assumed what was a her) over, spewing over her boxes into the snow.  
“Oof!”  
“I’m ever so sorry,” he said immediately, feeling the cold soaking into his gray cloak. The young woman had a head full of dark hair. When she looked up and he caught sight of her large green eyes, he recognized her immediately.  
“Ah, Minerva McGonagall,” he said, helping the petite woman to her feet. His eyes twinkled with happiness. “How lovely to see you. Are you all right, my dear?”  
She was more grown up than he remembered. Her raven locks were shorter, but curly and her pale skin was rosy from the cold. She wore a beautiful emerald green cloak and leather boots.  
She was ever more beautiful than he recalled.  
“Professor Dumbledore, I’m quite all right. I’m afraid I wasn’t looking where I was walking. How are you?” She smiled at him.  
“Getting admittedly clumsy in my old age,” he said with a smile, kneeling with her to collect her packages that had fallen in the snow.  
They chatted about her work in the Ministry’s Hall of Mysteries and her research. During her time as a student, they had been close, a little flirty even, in her later years. At one time, Albus may have even considered her a friend.  
As he handed her the last wrapped package, they stood and brushed the snow from their cloaks.  
It was then caught sight of the beautiful white diamond perched on her finger. “And I see congratulations are in order,” he said nodding towards the rock. She blinked once and then seemed to remember the ring, smiling dazzling.  
“Oh yes, thank you, I’m afraid I’m not quite used to it yet.”  
“And may I ask who the lucky wizard is?”  
“I suppose that would be me, sir.”  
Dumbledore looked up to see the dark hair and ever slippery Tom Riddle walking up to them. Though Minerva had aged in looks and matured, Tom looked the same as he had the day he graduated.  
“Ah, Mister Riddle,” Dumbledore said, politely, shaking the man’s hand, a coldness washing between the two. “Good to see you again.”  
“And you Professor.”  
“We should be getting back, Minerva,” Tom said smoothly, putting a hand on her lower back. The young woman nodding smoothly and turned back to Albus.  
A flicker of something ugly moved inside of him as he handed Minerva over to Tom. Something he hadn’t realized still existed inside him, jealousy.  
“Minerva, my dear, it was lovely to catch up with you. Good luck with your wedding plans.” He kissed her chastely on the cheek and they exchanged their goodbyes.  
“You should be careful, Mister Riddle, I’m sure someone would love to steal that lovely girl from you.”  
Tom smiled charmingly, but Albus had always saw through the boy’s games. Just as they were about to disappear, Minerva glanced behind her and her eyes met Albus’.  
Her eyes glittered as they apparated away.  
Albus ran a hand over his face and continued on his way to his very late meeting with rest of the professors.  
A few months later he heard Professors Merrythought and Slughorn gossiping that Minerva had broken off the engagement the previous month. He was unsure why his heart fluttered so excitedly.


	3. No.3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third affair: lust

Hermione Granger prided herself on being observant and she knew without a shadow of a doubt there was something going on between the Headmaster and her Transfiguration Professor.  
Since she had been at Number 12 with the rest of the Weasley Family, she had made it her mission to find out what was going on, but no one else seemed to notice.   
That or they were just used to it: the little stares across the room. The flirty under-dialogue. The oh so formal addresses. The under the table caresses.  
And she was going to prove it. Stealing the Extendable Ear had been easy. She had written it off as doing something to help her favorite professor, rather than a grave attempt at ease dropping.  
(Not that Fred and George would let her forget it if they caught her.)   
As the late night Order meeting broke off, the groups of people began to filter out. Hermione sat perched in the closet above the banister, where she knew the Headmaster and his Deputy would exit.   
“A moment, Professor?” Dumbledore called out to Professor McGonagall as he finished a conversation with Remus. Through the crack between the floor and door, Hermione saw Professor McGonagall pause near the door. She looked so different away from school.   
The Muggle dress was mostly covered by a large emerald green peacoat the showed off a beautiful figure Hermione didn’t know she had. Her dark hair was pinned up in a looser French knot than her normal school bun. She leaned on the wall, waiting for the Headmaster to finish.   
Once the rest of the people had cleared out, McGonagall smiled slightly at the man. He drew closer to her.   
“Hello professor,” he said quietly.   
“I have Death Eaters to tail, Headmaster,” Professor McGonagall said, moving near the door, glancing at him slightly sultrily.  
“Is that so, Professor?” was the swift reply.   
“I thought I wasn’t talking to you,” she said and Hermione could perfectly picture her favorite professor’s raised eyebrow.  
“But Minerva,” Dumbledore whined, “you know you can’t stay mad at me forever. Whoever would make sure I don’t starve to death or get lost on the way to my office?”  
“Don’t be a child, Albus,” McGonagall said, “I thought I told you that I’m mad at you.”  
“How about I make it up to you, my dear?”  
“This is hardly the time or pla—”  
Hermione’s eyes widened as the man cut off his Deputy with a kiss. The woman didn’t break it and when he pulled back she was glaring at him playfully.   
“We’re in a house full of people.”  
“And?”  
“That was hardly proper,” she snapped, quietly, her eyes glancing behind him. Dumbledore didn’t seem to notice, running his hand through her hair, slowly taking out the pins one by one.   
“I remember several occasions in your seventh year where you didn’t mind much,” he said lowly, his pupils dilating. “Where’s your sense of fun and adventure, Miss McGonagall?”  
“Probably back where she graduated,” she said, allowing Dumbledore to kiss her again. This time McGonagall returned it. Just as the kiss grew heated, McGongall broke it, pulling back sharply with a twinkling in her eyes.   
Albus looked stunned at the suddenly change and dejected. He sighed and Minerva smirked triumphantly. Flipping her hair out of her face, she glanced back at him from the doorway.  
“Talk to Harry and then we’ll talk about making it up to me,” she said with a raised eyebrow. The moon shadowed from behind her, making her pale skin glow.   
“Goodnight, Professor.”  
The door shut behind her and Dumbledore sighed, chuckling to himself. Hermione waited a moment before exhaling. She began to slowly pull up the Extendable Ear, but not before…  
“Good evening, Miss Granger.”


	4. No.4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth affair: broken glass

He hated when they fought. Though it was rare and the times were far between, they were always long and drawn out; and most always painful. She was the only one he knew that could hold a silent treatment for days, weeks even. She had always been like that, ever since she was a child he knew.  
The Christmas staff party was lively and well underway when he entered much more quietly than he normally would have. He was dressed in crimson robes, trying to feel festive for the holiday, despite the overcasting tones of loss and violence that the new Dark Lord was brining to the world with his frequent attacks.  
He knew she was here, though their interaction would be limited until the evening drew longer. No one suspected they often shared chambers once everyone retired.   
He was greeted by the staff and accepted a glass of elf made wine as the music and conversation flowed. He didn’t recall what he talked about for most of the evening between his friends and colleges and their guests.   
He caught sight of the focus of his stress in the corner of the room. She was beautiful. It was to spite him, of course. The black dress was laced and tighter than she would usually wear to such an occasion, and it was catching the attention of every available and unavailable male there. Her long curls were pulled up in a complex, elegant bun away from her face with a few pieces softly falling into her face, brushing up against her cheeks.  
“A beauty, isn’t she?”  
The fifth year transfiguration teacher had always been beautiful to him, but Albus just inclined his head to the man, and tried to tear his eyes off the creatures his mind could never forget.  
***  
Minerva McGonagall stood with her longtime friend Poppy Pomfrey as the Christmas Party for the Hogwarts staff was in full swing. Though she would normally enough such events, the currently predicaments made her somber and anxious and her personal relationships simply made everything stressful.   
“I can’t believe you won’t tell me,” Poppy continued, taking a large sip of elf made wine, smudging her bright red lipstick. She wore a matching white and red dress with shiny heels. Her bronze hair was straightened and primped to her standard of perfection.  
“Just drop it, Poppy.”  
“I think we were best friends, Mina,” she snapped under her breath. “And then you suddenly tell me your pregnant and need me to make sure you haven’t injured the baby on one of your stupid Order missions? You didn’t even tell me you were seeing anyone.”  
She glanced down accusingly at Minerva’s stomach which was slender and flat, though it wouldn’t be for long. Minerva sighed and ran a hand over her face. “Poppy, I can’t handle any more lectures from you or anyone else, okay?”  
Her green eyes looked tired. The twenty six year old Transfiguration teacher couldn’t help but feel all the work from the school, her research, the Order, and the coming war weighing down on her shoulder. Her fighting with Albus only made it worse. Her few hours of sleep turned into hours of worry and work.  
Poppy’s eyes softened and she linked arms with her friend. “Well come on then, love, let’s get some food in you. After all, you are eating for two now.”  
***  
“You and Minerva should dance, Albus. You two were always quite good when she was a student,” Slughorn said, his words slightly slurred.   
Albus turned to glance at Minerva who stood not too far away from the group. A flicker of panic shone in Minerva’s eyes and Albus immediately took a step back, but other voices joined Slughorn’s, and the two were pushed towards each other and joined by a handful of other odd couples as an older, slower song played.   
“You look beautiful tonight.”  
Minerva’s eyes, which were previously scanning the room, jumped over to his face. Their normal warmth was missing and hurt and anger shone through.   
“Minerva,” he said quietly, trying to make her understand the depth of his   
“This is not the time, Albus,” she said, with a note of finality. They began an old Gaelic dance, one Albus knew Minerva would be able to flourish at. The steps were graceful and flowing, not to mention complex. While the other couples swayed awkwardly together, Minerva and Albus moved as one.   
Albus could feel the eyes of the room on them, as it normally was when they danced together. For some reason, when they danced, they showed the way they could work so flawlessly together, knowing the other’s movements before even they did.   
The song was over before Albus would have liked and as they broke away, Minerva bowed off towards Poppy and the shadows of the room, while Albus exited towards the middle of the room, smiling falsely at the complements and trying to ignore the whispers.   
Minerva smiled and nodded as someone complemented her and Dumbledore dance as Poppy followed her. Her friend’s caught her arm and her nail were tight as she tried to stop the raven haired woman.   
“It’s Dumbledore,” Poppy breathed in her ear as she moved away towards the doors that led out into the corridor. Angry tears stung her eyes and she tried to steady her breathing. “You’re carrying Albus Dumbledore’s baby.”  
***  
He didn’t bother knocking on the doors to her office; he knew she wouldn’t answer. She was standing near the long windows, looking out into the softly snowing courtyard.   
Her arms rested on her nonexistent stomach.   
The moon glowed out from behind her like an iridescent glow, making her appear just like her namesake and the black of her hair glittered silver.   
“May I come in?”  
She turned to look at him, her eyes dark and intelligent, but sad. She raised an eyebrow. “You already have.”  
Albus swallowed at her tone, but inclined his head. He closed the door behind him and took a few steps into the room, the shadows of the dimly lit room dancing off him.   
“Minerva, I do not wish to upset you.”  
“Then don’t.”  
Her simplicity of the rights and the wrongs of the world had always irked him and the scholar found his temper flaring. “It is not that simple and you know it,” he hissed at her.  
She flipped to face him, her Scottish ire loud and brazen.  
“It is that simple. I don’t want marriage, I don’t want some ridiculous big wedding, we don’t have to tell anyone,” she said, turning to face him angry, “but you cannot simply lock me away in a box until there’s no danger, Albus Dumbledore. I am not made of glass!”  
Her breathing was ragged and her chest pumped up and down. Albus paused for a moment, listening to the silence of the room, before asking the question bearing on his mind.   
“Why did you not tell me about the child?”  
Her eyes flashed slightly in the light, looking more like a cat’s than a human’s.   
“Because I knew what you would say about it,” she said moving away from the window to the smooth leather couch that used to his be his. She used to love it as a student, often curling up on it during their advanced transfiguration lessons. When she came to teach at Hogwarts and take over his position, he gave it to her as an office warming present. “You would never want it.”  
Albus swallowed thickly feeling his stomach drop to his stomach. He slowly sat on the other end of the couch, feeling older than ever before. He often wonder if being in a relationship with someone thirty years her senior was good for Minerva. He had always sought comfort that she was an old soul, someone who knew exactly what she wanted and knew who she was, but hearing her words now, made him questing just how good he was for her.  
“I want you, Minerva,” he said gently, as he approached her as one would a wounded animal. “And I want this baby.”  
“You don’t mean it,” she said, curling up on herself, breaking his heart in doing so.   
“I do,” he said, brushing some of the hair out of her face. “But I want you to be safe, I could never forgive myself if something were to happen to you because you were involved with you.”  
She had always given him peace. He had never quite figured out how. Even as a student, a smile from the young girl could do more for his soul than a night with any woman. Later, when their romantic encounters had begun he took solace that he made her feel safe. However, this kind of relationship with former students, especially one he worked so closely with during her schooling would look bad. They both knew that.   
He moved closer to her on the couch, his fingertips barely touching the lace of the dress and the curls of her hair.   
“I love you,” he said hopefully, watching her face for a reaction.  
“I love you,” she returned without hesitation. “But sometimes it’s not enough.” She moved towards the door near the bookcase and Albus didn’t bother to follow her.   
His head fell into his hands and two months later, they were over; the baby perished in a pool of blood during an Order mission gone wrong and a loud cry of “crucio” that broke the two apart.


	5. No.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fifth affair: past

In the kitchen of the Burrow, Molly Weasley bustled around happily as levitate three cups of tea outside to the porch. After the war, they had rebuilt the home, making it larger and adding on a sizable deck, overlooking the yard.   
Since in the year following the war, she had done her best to patch up her family and herself from the losses. Making peace with the past was the final straw in allowing everything to settle.   
The red headed woman had aged, the stress accumulating in her hips and face. Her laugh lines were more noticeable and her hair dulling, but she still looked, now more than ever, like a mother.  
“It just seems so surreal you know,” Hermione was saying as she came out. The sun was warm in the summer air and without the burden of war, the days were long and more enjoyable, brighter.  
A sparkling engagement ring glittered on her finger.  
“You’ll get used to it,” Minerva said with a grin, accepting Molly’s cup with a nod of thanks. “But then the wedding will come and everything will become new again.”  
The Transfiguration Professor looked ageless. After surviving three wars, her thin figure and dark hair never seemed to fade, nor did her sharp green eyes or fair marbled skin. She wore lighter summer robes, navy blue and soft.  
Molly smiled brightly. “I remember when Arthur first proposed. I was just beside myself. I think I alarmed the entire dorm. My parents had passed away two years previous and my brothers had graduated so I was at school alone. Arthur proposed in our seventh year, a few months before we graduated. We had been dating for years, on and off since we were Third Years if you could believe that. By the time I got around to owling my brother, the word had already spread to them and the rest of my family. I don’t think they ever quite forgave me for that.”  
Minerva chuckled. “I still remember when they hexed poor young Randall Hemmingway for making you cry in your Second Year during the Winter Ball. Not to mention that awful joke they pulled on Abraxas Malfoy. It took me and Poppy hours to sort him right.”  
“That was the last boy I dated before I fell head over heels for Arthur.”  
“That was a beautiful wedding,” she said with a smile.   
“You were there?” Hermione asked, her always curious eyes sparkling. Minerva wrinkled her nose indignantly.   
“Of course I was there!”  
“I asked Minerva to sit in place for my mother,” Molly explained giving the older woman’s hand a squeeze.  
“What was your wedding like?” Hermione asked dreamily. “I’ve begun to do some research and Ron’s no help, of course.”  
“It was small,” Molly began, smiling as the memories washed over her. “Just friends and family really. We held it on my parent’s estates. They always had a beautiful garden, flowers everywhere during the summer. My brother both walked me down the isle and I wore my mother’s old wedding dress.” Molly sniffled and Hermione smiled broadly.   
“How did you know he was the one?”  
Molly pondered the question carefully before answering simply, “you never know really if they’re the one. You just know that you’re in love and you’re willing to make it work at all costs.”  
She wiped her eyes and turned to Minerva who squeezed her hand comfortingly. There was a moment of comfortable silence before.   
“How old were you when you knew you were in love, Minerva?” Hermione asked, turning to look at the older woman.   
“Oh about sixteen I’d wager.”  
Hermione’s eyes widened considerably and Minerva chuckled. “It was a different time then, I suppose,” she said with a shrug. “Romances and marriages were a different thing then.”  
“And you knew you two were going to get married?” Hermione asked eagerly. Her long hair brushed her cheek as she leaned forward towards her mentor.   
Minerva chuckled and leaned back in the seat coolly. “Of course not,” she said smoothly, “there was a war going on. Grindelwald was terrorizing Muggleborns across the country. Nothing was for sure. All I knew was that I loved him and that he loved me. Nothing else seemed to matter much.”  
Hermione’s heart fluttered.   
“And the   
“I couldn’t imagine keeping my marriage a secret for so long,” Molly said shaking her head. “I had no idea you two were involved while I was in school.”  
Minerva shrugged, her green eyes marking the landscape around them as if the topic made her slightly uncomfortable. “I suppose it was always a secret, even before we were married. Albus and I had been a team since I was eleven years old. Even before we were courting, even before we were married, everything about our relationship, other than surface level interactions had to be hidden. I could no more live without him than he without me. If an unrecognized marriage was the only way to live, then that was the way it had to be. Albus was always much better at secrets than I was.”  
“Talking about me again, are you, Professor McGonagall?” a friendly voice greeted them as Albus Dumbledore appeared. He wore cheerful green robes and a content smile.   
“You, Headmaster?” Minerva called, “Why would I be talking about you? It’s not like you have any interesting secrets for me to share,” she said innocently, her green eyes pointedly looking up at the bearded man. Hermione glanced at Molly and both woman bit back giggles.  
“None at all, my dear,” he said smoothly, sending the other two woman a wink. “Miss Hermione, I hear congratulations are in order.”  
Hermione blushed. “Thank you.”  
“And Mrs. Weasley, you look as lovely as ever.”  
“Albus Dumbledore, flirting with former students?” Molly said with an eyebrow raised cheekily.  
“Why not? I married one, didn’t I?” he asked, wrapping his arms around Minerva’s waist. It was odd to see them outside of their boundaries at the Order and Hogwarts, away from the prying eyes and the tension of battle and violence.  
Hermione smiled at their exchange and the level of pure peace they found with the touch of the each other. Finally she realized that was she wanted in her marriage with Ron.   
Minerva smirked up at Albus, his eyes twinkling merrily down at his beloved as the sun began to set. Perhaps, for once, they could live happily ever after.


End file.
